REGIONALREPORT Eastern

PEMBROKE — Steven Roberts Original Desserts says it will open a 100,000-square-foot bakery here in July. The Denver-based company plans to employ 100 initially and add 200 within three years. It and its Ticklebelly Desserts subsidiary make sweets sold in restaurants and hotels.

TARBORO — Atlanta-based Superior Essex, which makes wire and cable products, wants to open a second plant here that would create 116 jobs within five years with an average salary of $41,289. It employs 238 at its existing location.

RAEFORD — Unilever announced it will add 65 jobs in three years at its local plant, bringing employment to about 340. The company, which has headquarters in London and in Rotterdam, Netherlands, plans to spend $35 million to add two lines at the plant. The jobs will pay an average of $39,605.

LUMBERTON — Progress Energy has decided to close its Weatherspoon coal-fired power plant this fall, six years ahead of schedule. The Raleigh-based utility will replace the plant’s output with production from its new gas-fired plant in Richmond County. About 30 work at the Weatherspoon plant.LITTLETON — LSA America, maker of the Allegro Light Sport Aircraft, opened a factory here that will employ 34. It will lease space at the Littleton Industrial Building while it builds a production hangar at the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport.